Safety-bar for mail-cars.



No. 683,5!0. Patented Oct. 1, l90l.

n. 0. sum.

SAFETY BAR FOR MAIL CARS.

(Application filed Mar. 8, 1901.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT D. SMITH, OF cHIoAco, ILLINOIS.

SAFETY-BAR; FOJR MAIL-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 683,510, dated October 1, 1901.

Application filed March 8, 1901. Serial No. 50,366- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, ROBERT D. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Bars for Mail-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of safetybars which are arranged to be used in connection with the side or end openings or doors in mail or baggage cars, and particularly to the means by which the bar is held and locked in position for use, all of which will more fully hereinafter appear.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple, economical, and efficient safety-bar for use in connection with the side openings or doors in mail-cars.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bar of the class referred to with automatic locking mechanism by which it may be held efficiently and safely in operative position.

Further objects of the invention will appear from an examination of the drawings and the following description and claims.

The invention consists principally in the combination of a bar movably secured to the frame of a mail-car door, a socket to receive the free end of the safety-bar and hold it in substantially horizontal position, and automatic locking mechanism for holding the bar in its horizontal operative position.

The invention consists, further, in the combination of a bar pivotally secured to the frame of a mail or baggage car door, a socket for receiving the free end of the bar and holding it in substantially horizontal position, and latch mechanism for automatically looking the bar in such position. 7

The invention consists, further and finally, in the features, combinations, and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a mail-car, showing the side opening or door fitted with my improvements; Fig. 2, a plan sectional detail taken on line 2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 3, an enlarged perspective view of the free end of the safetybar, showing the mechanism by which it is locked or held in operative position; Fig. 4, an enlarged side elevation of the socket and locking mechanism, taken on line a of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 5, an enlarged perspective detail of the pivotal end of thesafety-bar, and Fig. 6 a perspective view of the bracket for pivotally holding the safety-bar in position In the art to which this invention relates it is well known that Government employees on mail-cars have to receive mail at the side opening or door of the mail-car While the car is in motion, sometimes while it is going at a high rate of speed. To provide safety means by which they may retain their hold on the car and receive the mail in as efficient a man nor as possible has long been the desire of builders of these kinds of cars and the railroads on which they are used. To accomplish these results, the builders of such cars have usually adopted for such safety means a bar which is adapted to be swung from a vertical position when not in use to a horizontal position when in use, and when in its horizontal posit-ion this safety-bar has been looselyheld in a socket. This class of devices has not proved safe or all that is desired, for the reason that when leaning against the bar the free end thereof is apt to be thrown out of its socket, resulting in the falling or throwing out of the employee and sometimes in maiming or killing, and when a positive fastening has been provided for the free end of the bar the employees either ignore it or are in too great a hurry to use it, the result being accidents, as heretofore. The principal object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a safety-bar of such construction and arrangement that when placed in operative position it is automatically locked and cannot be unlocked until the operator uses positive elforts to accomplish that result, all of which will more fully hereinafter appear.

In constructing my improvements and fitting them to a mail-car a, which is provided with the usual side opening 1?, in which is slidingly mounted a door 0 to open or close the same, I provide a supporting-bracket d and secure it to the curved portion of the doorframe, as shown in Fig. 1. This bracket is provided with lugs e, in which is pivotally mounted one end of the safety-bar f and is secured to the car-door frame, as above suggested, in.such a manner that the safety-bar may be swung into a vertical position within the door-opening, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. To hold the safety-bar in substantiallya horizontal or operative position across the door-opening and lock it in such position, asocket g is provided and secured to the'other curved portion of the door and provided with a recess h, in which the ball or free end of the safety-bar may rest and support it in a horizontal position. To look the bar in such position and permit it to be automatically locked, a weighted latch 45 is provided and pivotall y secured to the socket in a groove portion thereof, so that its tongue portion j obstructs the recess-opening through which the free end of the safety-bar is inserted. This latch is pivotally secured to the socket, so that its tongue may be swung out of such opening, as shown' in Fig. 4, and permit the safety-bar to drop into the position shown in Fig. 3. When the bar drops into this position, the latch automatically returns to its normal locking position, so that the bar cannotbe unlocked until the operator makes a positive movement to unlock the same. The stop portion Zof the latch t' swings against the closed bottom portion of the side of the groove in which the latch is mounted. This closed side portion m ofthe groove forms what I choose to term a rest, against which the stop portion of the latch impinges and,with the pivot 72, holds the latch in position against the upward movement of the bar.

From the foregoing description of construction and operation it will be seen that the bar is actually what it is termed, a safetybar, in that it cannot be removed from its horizontal or operative position without the extraneous assistance of some person who must make certain and positive efforts to unlock the same, all of which affords greater security for the life and limbs of the mailclerks than has hitherto been provided.

I claim- 1. In a safety-bar for cars of the class described, the combination of a safety-bar pivotally secured to the door-frame of the car, a socket to hold the free end and thereby the bar in horizontal position, and automatic locking mechanism on the socket portion for locking the bar in such position, substantially as described.

2. I11 a safety-bar for cars of the class de scribed, the combination of a supportingbracket secured to the door-frame, a bar pivotally secured thereto, a socket for holding the free end of the bar and thereby the bar in horizontal position, anda weighted latch for automatically locking the bar in its operative position and preventing it from being unlocked until the latch has been moved out of position, substantially as described.

3. In a safety-bar t'or cars'ot' the class de scribed, the combination of a supportingbracket secured to the door-frame, a bar pivotally secured thereto and provided with a ball on its free end, a socket for holding the ball end of the bar and thereby the bar in horizontal position, and a weighted latch provided with a tongue extending across the socket-opening to permit the bar to automatically enter and be locked in operative position, but preventing it from being unlocked with out extraneous assistance, substantially as described.

4:. In a safety-bar of the class described, the combination of a supporting-bracket secured to the door-frame, a bar pivotally secured thereto, a socket portion holding the free end of the bar, a latch pivotally mounted in the socket portion provided with a tongue extending across the socket-opening, a stop portion at substantially right angles with the tongue, to hold the tongue in looking position across the socket-opening, a rest for the stop to prevent the tongue being raised by the bar, and a weight upon the latch to hold the stop portion in position against the rest, substantially as described. a

5. In a safety-bar of the class described, the combination of a supporting-bracket secured to the door-frame, a bar pivotally secured thereto, a socket portion for holding the free end of the bar, a latch pivotally mounted in the socket portion provided with a tongue extending across the socket-opening, a stop portion on the latch to hold the tongue in looking position across the socket portion and prevent the tongue being raised by the bar and means for holding the latch against the rest, substantially as described.

6. In a safety-bar of the class described, the combination of a bar pivotally secured to the frame of a car-door, a socket portion upon the opposite side of the door to hold the free end of the bar, a latch pivotally mounted in the socket portion provided with a tongue extending across the socket-opening, a weight upon the latch for moving the tongue into position across the socket-opening, a stop por tion upon the latch integral with the tongue to prevent the raising of the tongue by the bar, and a rest upon the socket portion to hold the latch in position against the action of the bar, substantially as described.

7. In a safety-bar for cars of the class described, the combination of a supportingbracket secured to the door-frame, a bar pivotally secured therein, a socket secured to the door-frame opposite the supporting-bracket for holding the free end of the bar, and a pivotally-mounted latch for locking the bar within the socket, substantially as described.

8. In a safety-bar forcars of the class described, the combination of a supporting bracket secured to the door-frame, a bar pivotally secured therein, a socket secured to the door-frame opposite the supporting-bracket for holding the free end of the bar, and a latch pivotally mounted upon the socket for automatically locking the bar in position, substantially as described.

ROBERT D. SMITH.

\Vituesses: THoMAs F. SHERIDAN, HARRY IRWIN ORoMER. 

